6 ms·

"We write to ask that you enforce your app stores' terms of service against X" [pdf]

50 points by robin_reala 10mo ago

ben_w 10mo ago
At the same time others in Congress are threatening to sanction the UK for enforcing the same rules.
gambiting 10mo ago
Given that the US government is literally threatening to sanction UK and its politicians for any attempt to block X while this is happening, I very much doubt that Google/Apple will want to take any action lest they attract ire of their own government. Who would have thought that government led by a convicted criminal would rather sanction its closest ally than force X to take action against this.
- ben_w 10mo ago
  A convicted criminal who is also in the middle of a simultaneous scandal involving his relationship with Epstein and his administration's failure to release all the Epstein files as ordered. While the owner of X also keeps spreading stories suggesting the UK isn't doing enough to stop exactly the sort of thing that X is now taking money for, and who has previously said that aforementioned convicted criminal is in the Epstein files in a particularly bad way.
  - sndksksk 10mo ago
    I can say what I want : good I can't say what I want : bad understand?
    - ben_w 10mo ago
      Musk takes money to create criminal material, and spends that money to politically support someone personally accused of the same category of criminal conductand who has also definitely interfered with the investigation of criminal conduct regarding the same, where both material and conduct is in a category Musk himself states is worthy of a civil war for not preventing. He's a hypocrite. Or to phrase it the way you did: CSAM when Musk or his allies do it: Musk claims freedom of speech. CSAM when opponents of Musk have not pulled every lever to wipe it out: Musk calls for civil war and regime change.
    - collingreen 10mo ago
      You forgot the third pillar: You can say what I don't want: bad
- drcongo 10mo ago
  Can the UK really still be described as the US's closest ally? Feels a lot more like we're America's gimp these days.
  - polotics 10mo ago
    Orwell's "Airstrip One" moniker from 1984 comes to mind. Most apt in the context of the recent north-Atlantic tanker interdiction exercise. Them NATO bases are quite useful!
  - ben_w 10mo ago
    Closest, but not close. UK's "independent" nuclear deterrant is British made warheads in British made submarines, but the missiles fired from those subs and to which those warheads are attached, are American. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trident_(missile) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trident_(missile) Still, plenty of times the UK has gone to bite, only to metaphorically boinked on the nose by a rolled up newspaper. Notably the Suez crisis.
jmclnx 10mo ago
If Twitter/Grok is creating these images, then all he is asking is Google and Apple do to Twitter what they do to smaller companies without any hesitation. Seems fair to me.
- 0xy 10mo ago
  Gemini and ChatGPT both generate the same types of images, so this performative enforcement is inherently political.
  - acdha 10mo ago
    Do they? All of the reporting I’ve read says that they’re a lot better at preventing this, so the popular choices before Grok were things like Civitai, not Google or OpenAI, because X explicitly embraced “spicy” mode as a growth strategy: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/elon-musk-grok-hardcore-porn-1235442715/ https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/elon-m...
    - ls612 10mo ago
      “Better at preventing” \neq “can’t”. The hoopla you are seeing here is textbook selective enforcement. There’s also the kafkatrap of showing that a model can do this makes you technically criminally liable for possession of CSAM, which I’m sure will be enforced against the journalists who demonstrated it as rigorously as they want it to be enforced against Twitter.
      - acdha 10mo ago
        > The hoopla you are seeing here is textbook selective enforcement This is true in the same way that American gun nuts say shootings happen in other countries, hoping you won’t check absolute numbers. The fact that the large groups which specialize in creating this content favor Grok over the other major players strongly suggests the complaint is valid. https://www.404media.co/grok-ai-sexual-abuse-imagery-twitter/ https://www.404media.co/grok-ai-sexual-abuse-imagery-twitter...

50 points by robin_reala 10mo ago

ben_w 10mo ago

At the same time others in Congress are threatening to sanction the UK for enforcing the same rules.

Given that the US government is literally threatening to sanction UK and its politicians for any attempt to block X while this is happening, I very much doubt that Google/Apple will want to take any action lest they attract ire of their own government. Who would have thought that government led by a convicted criminal would rather sanction its closest ally than force X to take action against this.

ben_w 10mo ago
A convicted criminal who is also in the middle of a simultaneous scandal involving his relationship with Epstein and his administration's failure to release all the Epstein files as ordered. While the owner of X also keeps spreading stories suggesting the UK isn't doing enough to stop exactly the sort of thing that X is now taking money for, and who has previously said that aforementioned convicted criminal is in the Epstein files in a particularly bad way.
- sndksksk 10mo ago
  I can say what I want : good I can't say what I want : bad understand?
  - ben_w 10mo ago
    Musk takes money to create criminal material, and spends that money to politically support someone personally accused of the same category of criminal conductand who has also definitely interfered with the investigation of criminal conduct regarding the same, where both material and conduct is in a category Musk himself states is worthy of a civil war for not preventing. He's a hypocrite. Or to phrase it the way you did: CSAM when Musk or his allies do it: Musk claims freedom of speech. CSAM when opponents of Musk have not pulled every lever to wipe it out: Musk calls for civil war and regime change.
  - collingreen 10mo ago
    You forgot the third pillar: You can say what I don't want: bad
drcongo 10mo ago
Can the UK really still be described as the US's closest ally? Feels a lot more like we're America's gimp these days.
- polotics 10mo ago
  Orwell's "Airstrip One" moniker from 1984 comes to mind. Most apt in the context of the recent north-Atlantic tanker interdiction exercise. Them NATO bases are quite useful!
- ben_w 10mo ago
  Closest, but not close. UK's "independent" nuclear deterrant is British made warheads in British made submarines, but the missiles fired from those subs and to which those warheads are attached, are American. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trident_(missile) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trident_(missile) Still, plenty of times the UK has gone to bite, only to metaphorically boinked on the nose by a rolled up newspaper. Notably the Suez crisis.

jmclnx 10mo ago

If Twitter/Grok is creating these images, then all he is asking is Google and Apple do to Twitter what they do to smaller companies without any hesitation. Seems fair to me.

0xy 10mo ago
Gemini and ChatGPT both generate the same types of images, so this performative enforcement is inherently political.
- acdha 10mo ago
  Do they? All of the reporting I’ve read says that they’re a lot better at preventing this, so the popular choices before Grok were things like Civitai, not Google or OpenAI, because X explicitly embraced “spicy” mode as a growth strategy: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/elon-musk-grok-hardcore-porn-1235442715/ https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/elon-m...
  - ls612 10mo ago
    “Better at preventing” \neq “can’t”. The hoopla you are seeing here is textbook selective enforcement. There’s also the kafkatrap of showing that a model can do this makes you technically criminally liable for possession of CSAM, which I’m sure will be enforced against the journalists who demonstrated it as rigorously as they want it to be enforced against Twitter.
    - acdha 10mo ago
      > The hoopla you are seeing here is textbook selective enforcement This is true in the same way that American gun nuts say shootings happen in other countries, hoping you won’t check absolute numbers. The fact that the large groups which specialize in creating this content favor Grok over the other major players strongly suggests the complaint is valid. https://www.404media.co/grok-ai-sexual-abuse-imagery-twitter/ https://www.404media.co/grok-ai-sexual-abuse-imagery-twitter...